A 12-year-old student was allegedly beaten to death by a teacher of a residential school in Pakridayal area in East Champaran district of north Bihar.

Police sources said Shekhar Kumar, son of Chhotan Singh, was mercilessly beaten on Saturday night. By the time he was taken to a
local hospital with grievous injuries, doctors declared him brought dead.

An FIR has been lodged against Kashi Sah and his son, Pappu Jaiswal, both owners of Modern Public School, Pakaridayal, where the alleged thrashing took place.

Sah has been arrested while raids are on to nab his son, who fled after locking the school. With no teacher or attendant around, other students, too, left for their homes.

RK Mishra, a sub-inspector at the Pakridayal police station, said the victim was severely thrashed by a teacher when a cricket ball hit by him damaged the teacher's bicycle. Strangely, the name of the teacher has not been ascertained so far.

A spot examination by a forensic lab team ruled out the boy having hanged himself, as initially claimed by the school management. Doctors on the medical board that performed the autopsy said the boy had serious injuries around his head.

"There are definite indications of foul play," said East Champaran SP Ganesh Kumar, saying that the absence of any mark on the boy's neck and other circumstantial evidence indicated foul play.

The victim's mother, Chanda Devi, claimed he often complained that he was often beaten up by teachers on one pretext or another.